Karin simply smiled. "Oh, don't worry about that, my dear husband. It was Jarid Ka Vail that informed us about his father's activities in the first place. He left Ky Menin's estates so that Karryl could work on the old man with no clear chance of recrimination. No, we don't have any concern there. The young man's just hungry enough to do exactly what we want. You just leave him to me."
Yosset Clier sat back in his chair, his jaw set, his eyes narrowed again.
"Is he now?" he said quietly.
"So," said Karin, barely noticing his expression. "I suggest you get moving on preparing the meeting. We'll use the building here. That way we won't have to travel and it will give that little extra air of authority. The old man might be out of the picture, but we can still use him, or at least his memory, if we have to."
Thirty-One
Tarlain stood upon the steps of the Guild building in Bortruz, flanked on either side by two tall Kallathik. He'd thought it important to have them here, though there'd been one or two moments while they'd been mounting the steps where he thought that the whole structure was at risk of collapse. He needn't have worried, for though the ajura wood steps had creaked and groaned under the Kallathik weight, they'd borne the strain. He looked out over the assembled faces, waiting, choosing his moment. At first, only one or two of the local townspeople had gathered, but word swiftly spread. It wasn't often that something this unusual happened in a place like Bortruz.
The Kallathik stood motionless. If he had not known better, even Tarlain could have mistaken them for totems. The slightest flick of one of their tails told him they were watching, communicating between themselves in that silent way he didn't understand.
He looked around at the crowd again, checking his words until the last few stragglers joined the back of the group. Did he have any right to ask for their support? It had to be right. He had a duty as Men Darnak, as a Guildsmen to make things right. If he let the Kallathik action go unchecked, only bad could come of it.
Judging that the moment was right, he lifted the spear he held, high above his head.
"Do you see this?" he said clearly. "Do you know what it means?"
A couple of the crowd frowned. One or two looked at each other blankly. There was the dull buzz of voices from the back.
"This," said Tarlain, "is the mark of a coming storm. A storm bigger than anything the Season can throw at us. Bigger than anything the Twins can throw at us." He shook the spear for emphasis, feeling the weight of the polished wood, then cast it down, so it fell in the mud at the foot of the stairs.
"What's your point, Tarlain Men Darnak?" said a voice from the middle of the crowd.
"Did you hear that?" said Tarlain. "You heard the name. Tarlain Men Darnak. You know who I am. But do you know who these are?" He gestured to either side at the motionless Kallathik. "These are the owners of this land, this place, this world. We are nothing more than guests in their place, thrown here by an act of the Prophet. We survive here because of their grace, no other reason."
"I've heard enough," said a man at the back and started to walk away. A brief mutter started to follow him.
"You there!" yelled Tarlain. "Stay where you are!"
The man stopped, looked slowly back at Tarlain, snorted, shook his head and turned away again.
"Stop," said Tarlain.
In a blur, another, different Kallathik stood in front of the miner, twin spears poised, staring down at him with its four eyes, passionless. The man swallowed, looked up slowly into those expressionless features and lifted his hands. He took a hesitant step back.
Tarlain had their attention now.
He lifted an arm. "And there," he said pointing.
Form the opposite corner, yet another Kallathik appeared in a blur of motion, stopping just as quickly as it appeared. The creature beside him had seen his signal and passed it on. It had taken Tarlain a while to understand that they could also communicate at a distance, but now that he knew they could?
